I’m new to this app, just set it up and I just finished reading about Pure O. I have learned a lot about OCD but never knew that there were so many different kinds, and so many ways it manifests. I never thought It could be OCD, I thought it was everything else. I haven’t been officially diagnosed with it. Which drives me a little crazy. I’m constantly checking and rechecking my conclusion that it could be OCD. I’m constantly seeking reassurance and Ive constantly felt unsafe. I had to call my mom or my dad whenever I drove by myself to make sure I wasn’t doing something wrong, to make sure I wasn’t in danger or doing something terribly wrong. The reassurance helped but I think perpetuates the cycle. I need to learn to be okay on my own

Hi! I hope you get an OCD therapist. Based on my own knowledge and personal experience with OCD, you sound like you have OCD. I used to obsess over whether or not I had it before I was diagnosed too (and still! Lol). About the thing with your mom and dad -- I did/do that too. I'm still in therapy learning how to manage it :) it really helps. I'm glad you've found out about pure O. I never knew either until my googling compulsion somehow led me to the right place.

Type in your location and it will come up with a list :) https://iocdf.org/?s=+&post_type%5B%5D=iocdf_provider&post_type%5B%5D=iocdf_clinic&post_type%5B%5D=iocdf_support_group&post_type%5B%5D=iocdf_program&search-type=provider I was so sure I had every mental illness I heard about. I would research them all even though it scared me, because at the same time it was a "relief" somehow. I felt like I HAD to figure it out. I would Google, ruminate, self analyze, ask my parents for reassurance, and even sneakily get other random people to give me reassurance. I look back too and can see how OCD has always been apart of my life, just doesn't completely interfere sometimes. When my grandfather died, my OCD made me question everything there was to question about life and death and the meaning of it all. It just puts doubt in everything and makes uncertainty intolerable. Therapy teaches you how to accept that uncertainty to the best of our ability and not let OCD take away the things we value in our lives. Finding support groups like this was the first step I took as well :) I was hesitant about therapy, but some really awesome people on healthunlocked.com under the My OCD Community group encouraged me and I don't regret it at all.

Yeah with OCD it's hard because unless a therapist is trained to recognize OCD, it usually goes unnoticed. Traditional talk therapy typically just spurs on the cycle because they're engaging with the context of the thoughts. Exposure Response Prevention is different and works really well for OCD. I used to question how it would help, but now I am starting to see a difference in myself :) I always thought it was funny how everything I went through could be summed up as OCD. What seemed like a million unrelated problems was actually just one. Relieving in a sense that we're not up against the context of the thoughts, just OCD. You're very welcome :) you'll do well

Thanks, that helps so much! Yes, I remember spending hours to full days at Barnes and noble reading about mental health issues and disorders trying to figure out what’s wrong with me, and all of them made sense and I questioned all of them. I wore myself out to where I couldn’t think clearly which made me feel more urgent and more anxious and then search even more for reassurance. Not I can see this cycle. Looking back and being able to see it, makes so much sense. I’m really glad I found this. I’m not sure where I can find an OCD therapist though?

Yes, you have no idea how much that makes sense. No one seemed to understand before, and I didn’t understand either. I’ve been in therapy for years and twisted my mind in so many ways but didn’t think it could possibly be this simple. OCD. Not that it’s simple in any ways, but I guess the nature of OCD is to overcomplicate and have irrational fears bigger than they are. Thank you for the resources too, I will look them up today.